Week 33: Freeing Fire Hydrants

Wisconsin got hit with a few snowstorms last week requiring time to be spent outside clearing it from roads and sidewalks. And fire hydrants. But sadly, this daughter of a firefighter noticed once again that the majority of them, in my town at least, had not been attended to.

And so last week, I threw a shovel in the back of my vehicle and sweet talked my sweet daughter into driving around with me for an hour or so while I cleared a path from the street and created access space around a whole lot of hydrants in town. 

Because it's been so cold, the snow that fell was fairly light around the bases, but the frozen slushy stuff from the recent plows was not. I shoveled until my almost-50-year-old shoulder with the reoccurring rotator issue protested too loudly. 😅 I cleared 15 in total. 

After freeing one particularly buried one, I told my daughter I was disappointed to see so many hydrants going unattended. She said, "Maybe people don't know they need to do it." And I bet she's right. Because not everyone grew up with a firefighting father. And not everyone thinks about caring for houses the way I do as a real estate agent. And so....

For those of you unaware, firefighters need a path from the street to the fire hydrant, and they are able to work most efficiently when there is 3+ feet of cleared space around the hydrants. 

Also worth knowing: It only takes 3-5 minutes for a house to become engulfed in flames. 

You do NOT want your hometown heroes spending precious time clearing snow when people and animals and things you love are inside. 

And so, I suggest you take note of your nearest fire hydrant and assess its accessibility. If no one has been caring for it, congratulations, you've been elected Fire Hydrant Captain!

If someone is already doing a great job of clearing it (like my old neighbor Doug, whom you may remember from Week 2's beer delivery post, does) you have some options: 

1. You could thank them,
2. You could do a little something special for them,
3. You could find another hydrant in front of an elderly neighbor, or one being ignored close to home, and adopt it as your own,
4. You could spread the word about the importance of keeping space around hydrants neat and tidy (but not in a preachy way, no one likes a know it all), and/or
5. You could drop off a treat at your local fire station (firefighters love baked goods) to say thank you for all they do. 

And since this realtor is on the topic, another winter maintenance tip is this: be sure to clear space around all of your furnace and dryer vents outdoors to eliminate the possibility of carbon monoxide being trapped in the house. 

And to install a carbon monoxide detector in the house. 

And to change your smoke detector batteries twice a year/each time you change your clocks. 

Wait, I'm sounding like the preachy people I warned about above. 🙈 Sorry! 

For more home maintenance tips (or for help with buying or selling your home 😁), send me an Instagram DM or email at sschultz@kw.com. Otherwise, I'll leave you here, trusting you caught my drift on freeing fire hydrants from snow drifts. 😉

Week 32: Beers for the Bakers, Broilers, and Barbequers

My boyfriend Mark made a reservation for us at The Regional in Fort Collins, Colorado last week Friday for an early Valentine's dinner since we're 1,000 apart today. 

We got a little bit dressed up (easy for two people who live primarily in sweats and gym clothes 😅), left the dog with lots of good boy treats, and headed down the mountain, into town. The parking saint was with us; we found a spot just around the corner from the restaurant. If you've ever been to downtown FoCo on a Friday night, you know what a miracle that is. 

We arrived 30 minutes before our reservation to sit at the bar and have a cocktail. Instead of the main bar in the larger dining room we found seats at the smaller bar overlooking the kitchen and its hard-working staff. And voila! Last week's Kindness Countdown activity was inspired. 

As we sat at the bar sipping our cocktails, we watched the staff prepare our appetizer, then we enjoyed it tremendously as we observed them cooking and plating everyone else's dinner, before we switched seats to our table and ordered our next course. 

The entire dinner was fantastic! The service was top notch while being relatedly friendly, the food was elevated but not so much it couldn't be personalized (I'm a vegetarian who ordered the scallop gnocchi, "hold the scallops and see if they can maybe work cauliflower or broccolini in there somehow?"), and the atmosphere was like most places in Colorado: dress as you're comfortable and you're A-OK. I always love that.

When it was time to order dessert, I asked the waitress a quick question: How much would it be to buy the kitchen staff a round of drinks? She said she'd get our Amish cheese cake order in and come back and let me know. 

We agreed to the price, asked to have it added to our bill, and enjoyed the last course of our amazing dinner. 

When the waitress presented our check she said, "I loved that you bought a round of drinks, I haven't had anyone do that in a long time. I bought you guys your dessert." What a lovely thing for her to have done. 💖

I hope your day, your week, your year, your life is full of love. 

The best way I've found to ensure it is is this: love others. It will come back.

Week 31: Self Care ≠ Selfish

Hi, my name is Shannon and I have OCD, and the potential for the anxiety that is known to accompany it. 

After living with an unnamed obstacle for decades (these things were not typically discussed in the 70s-90s when I was coming of age), I finally realized something was different about me. Soon after becoming a mother, I sought out answers and coping techniques to ensure I was doing all I could to provide my kids with a happy and healthy life. 

My therapist ran me through the ringer with some intense, for me and my condition, exercises. But I'm happy to say that for decades now I am able to live in the world and not have my OCD impact others (98% of the time). I've come so far as to learn to lean into my born tendencies to enable me to excel at things professionally, or in actively loving those close to me, and having a whole lot of empathy for others. 

Having said that, last week did not look like that. Last week was a tough one for me. And as usual, there wasn't really an exact reason. 

Yes, I had stress. Yes, I was dealing with some personal things. Yes, work was busy (I'm a real estate agent and the Spring market is underway, it comes with the territory - and I love it 99.9% of the time). 

But none of those things were really any more intense than I ordinarily, happily, live with. 

But last week Thursday, the day I had planned my activity for Kindness Countdown, I found myself riding the wave of one of the most severe anxiety attacks I have had in many years. 

I don't normally cry. But I did last week. 

I am almost never brought to my knees unable to move forward with things. But last week I was. 

I don't take my anxiety medicine but a couple times a year. But I did last week. 

I don't often share my story about living with OCD. But this week I am. 

Why? Well, because 1) I'm considering the grace I showed myself as last week's kind activity, giving myself the time to dig out of the pit I found myself in and 2) I wanted to pass along a reminder to anyone who needs it that it's OK to take time for yourself. 

There really is something to that whole "You can't pour from an empty cup" thing. 

I have the above-pictured wave tattoo on my wrist as a reminder and illustration of the truth I've found over the years: bad thoughts/times come in, but they are temporary; all waves eventually return to the sea.

If you're in a rough patch, give it time (like I did last Thursday). If you are living high, enjoy the ride (like I did with a fun night out with my bestie to celebrate me getting through the tough time last week - top photo 😄).

Here’s to hoping you have more ups than downs, and the love to give yourself time to work through the lows when the tide goes out. It will always come back in! 

PS: the tattoo under the wave is my sweet dog Maude who passed away two years ago. The story of us coming into each other’s lives is a whole story, but part of it is I was open to another dog to help with my anxiety and she ended up having lots of her own. We loved and healed each other as best we could and I miss her every day. 💗

Week 30: Childhood Craft for Adult Accomplishment

You guys! I need to take a moment to brag about my very witty, beautiful, brave, kind, and super smart best friend who has been working towards her DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice)! 

And now the end is in sight, literally, with the paper chain I made her to count down to it!

Brenda and I have known each other nearly our whole lives, meeting on the tennis courts the summer before attending the same middle school. 

We spent years hitting the mall to pick out books, building forts in the woods, watching music videos on MTV, talking on the phone about boys, and playing sports. (Typing that out made me realize we have changed little to none since the 80s.) 

Unfortunately, since we attended different high schools, we ended up drifting apart. One of the things I'm most grateful to social media for is our reconnection when Facebook hit the scene. It was like no time had passed during our first meetup, despite the decades. 

Since then, we've been by each other's side through some pretty big life stuff, listening and distracting and supporting during the difficult things and hyping each other up and celebrating the wins. And her DNP is definitely a win!

I spent an afternoon last week cutting out strips of construction paper, dating each piece (because life is hectic and I didn't want her to worry about missing a day), and then taping them all together to make a paper chain with a ring to remove each day until her graduation in May. 

Brenda, you should be so proud of yourself!! I can't wait to introduce you to everyone as Dr Best Friend henceforth!